Lucas evaluated his research process for his production, finding that exploring film techniques like mirror shots from other films helped develop his project's visual style. He organized his research and planning effectively to stay on schedule during the shoot. While peer feedback noted room for improving the acting performances, Lucas was mostly pleased with the technical and aesthetic qualities he achieved in his film.

1. Evaluation
Lucas Higham

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
I found that my research helped me immensely from the films I watched to the techniques I explored. All the interesting aspects of the
films I watched, that could apply to my project, I applied. It helped when I named all of them and organised them into a table. One aspect
in particular, from Secret Honor and My Dinner with Andre, was the use of shooting a line of dialogue looking into a mirror. This helped my
film adopt a distinct visual style. One thing I always strive for is to make every shot as interesting as possible, every shot is thought out and
meaning behind it, every shot has a purpose. I explained in my research why it would be effective to shoot certain segments of the film
through the mirror, utilising the location and giving the film more interesting visuals to engage the audience and help illustrate the story
and characters in a visual.
I feel I was very successful in translating what I watched in my research, being inspired by the techniques I thought suitedmy film and
applying them to my own. It is very smooth translation. I particularly enjoyedVera Drake out of all the films I watched, it had a significant
impact on the screenplay. In many ways watching that filmencouraged me to go more complex with my characters which I feel made the
film more engaging and gives more of an edge. I find it makes it more interesting for an audience to watch and for me to write. It puts the
audience in a conflict with the characters, I really want to push the conversation I hope the audience has with the film.
Another aspect of my research that helped inform the screenplay was looking at the book How Successful People Think from that book I got
the common traits and mentality of how someone who is successful, how they think. This helped me flesh out of the character of Jacob even
more but also not make him into a caricature or stereotypical. I got the concrete characteristics and built it from the ground up.
Visual comparison

4. Research
One of the challenges I faced during the research process was identifying an audience. I'm not making a
trailer or a film that most people my age would watch for entertainment. I resorted to creating a
questionnaire and aiming the questionnaire at the people who I know will be watching my film, my
Instagram followers who mostly found me through my YouTube channel where I upload my short films.
This helped me know what my particular audience wants and thinks, and it assisted me in making
decisions on how to push my message, what kind of genre I'm operating in and also let me into insights
of what my audience watches.
The experiment I conducted, testing out a split dioptre shot, a technique I had never implemented into
my work before, also greatly helped me create the visual style of the film and capture the claustrophobic
feeling, utilising the one location. I use that shot type twice in the film, anymore would've been too
much, especially for such a short film. In a way the shot bridges the gap between characters who further
away, both in focus. To me, it's highly effective for a thriller movie so I used the shot early on in my film
to suggest already growing tension between the two characters. It may have also helped assist in the
claustrophobic atmosphere, with it being close up to their faces and even character in the background,
his face is in focus due to the split dioptre.

5. Research
Finally,I would like to touch on my extensive reserch intocovid-19 rules and
regulationsfor screen productions. I knew I needed to make this film and I didn't want
to comprimise either due to covid restrctions or not being able to get an actor. 2020
was the fiorst year in a while where I didn’t make a short film, thanks to covid. Already
this year I've made three, two during a full-scale lockdown. I wanted everyone to feel
safe and comfortable filming during a pandemic. I also didn't want to breaking any
rules in fear of the productionbeing shut down and myself getting a fine. So went to
the internet to find gudelines for screen productions,to my luck I find an incredibley
useful document which specialises in younger screen production,university college
level. It's 70 pages detailingcovid precaustionson every ascept of productionfrom
editing to hair and make-up. It also containsa risk assessment tailoredto covid-19.

6. Planning
My organisational, pre-production planning helped me stay organised, keeping track of equipment, props and costumes that needed
bringing. This ensured I stayed on top of things on the day of shoot.
One particular piece of planning which I used on the day of shoot was my storyboards. I story boarded most of the film, the main shots
anyway. I had my storyboard book with me on the day in case I needed reminding of how I was going to do a certain shot. This ensured I
didn't spend time thinking up for a new shot or forgetting what I came up with and trying to remember. It made the day run more
smoothly. I wanted waste as little time as possible. The storyboards were a good visual reference too, in case when I explainhow the shot
will look to an actor and they don't understand it, I can point the storyboard.

7. Planning
I found my visual planninglacked a certain vison.I always have a vison for a film I make from the way it
looks,feels, sounds and so on.However, I didn't fullybring that across in my planning.It had everything
it needed in terms of technical planning(shotlist,storyboard,schedule etc)but,like I said,it lacked a
strongvison,on paper.Writing down my thoughts allowed me to understandand developthem better
as seen in my colour scheme and sound planning.
I talked about howI planned on usinga certain piece of classical music in the film, 'Air on a G String',
specificallynoted in my planning.That,did not go to plan.Did it negativelyaffect my final piece? No.
Thankfullynot.The reason I was unable to use that piece of music is because I suspected it maybe be
copyrighted.Ididn't want anycopyrighted musicin the film as I'm planningon enteringit into some
festivals.So,I uploaded the piece to YouTube,and it was imminentlygreeted with a copyright claim. All
of a sudden,it was off the cards.So, I searched through standardroyaltyfree music sites and found
nothingthat interested me.Until I made use of YouTube audio library,the musicsupplied there I know
for a fact isn't copyrighted.I didn't want to get my hopes set on another classical piece of music, onlyto
discover I can't use it. Using the libraryopened my eyes to some famous classical pieces of music that
are in the publicdomain.One of which is 'Bach Cello Suite No. 1, G Major,Prelude' which I found fitted
well with the film, I liked it, so ultimately,Iended up using it.
The contingencyplanninghelpingbe aware and take precautions where needed.These precautions
which I stated in the planning,where in place and helped the dayrun smoothlywith no harm caused to
anyone.

8. Time Management
I found that I managed my time very well because of numerous reasons. Firstly, I planned outthe day roughly with a
schedule set in place.
A few days beforeI shotthe film, myself and the two actors had a facetime meeting to discuss thefilm, have a table
read of the scriptand to break the ice. If I didn't do that, then thosethings would'vetaken place of the day of shoot,
taking up moretime out of the day when we could be getting on filming. I set for everyoneto arrivepromptly at 9am
and weeventully finished at 5pm. Having made shortfilms in the past I roughly knew how long it will take, especially for
such a shortfilm with a seven-pagescript. I didn't spend too long on a shot, once I got what I needed and I was happy
with it, I moved on. In an ideal world, it would'vebeen nice to spend moretime on the performances, perhaps having
rehersals, thatwould'vegiven me more time to shapethe performances rather than get what turned up on the day with
only a few moments of direction added, which did suite my vison of the character better but was sometimes ignored.
I additionally decided to shootthe entire film during the Easter holidays, this massively helped me as it gaveme more
the enough time to edit the film during college hours, I was never falling behind, didn't feel rushed or stressed. Another
reason as to why I shotduring the holidays is I was in a fortunateposintion as atthat point we werestill in semi-
lockdown, barabers werestilloffically closed, I shoton the 8th April and barabers reopen on the 12th. This gaveme the
entire day to shoot, and a couple of days left over in caseI need to reshootany footage. If wewerein normal
circumstances, I willwould'vebeen able to shootthere, but only on select days.
The way I managed my time meant that I completed the projectin good time, didn't go over schedule on the day of
shoot.
Like I said if I had made moretime/a space to do so, it would'vebeen benefical to have rehersals with the cast beforewe
started to roll the cameras. A main criticism of the film was the acting. If I was given moretime with the actors, I
could'veworked on the performances with them more. Although, myself and Dan are pretty much the sameage, so I
don't know how he would feel me giving him acting advice. I did drama for GCSEso I know whatI'mtalking about, to an
extent. But I don't passionately love acting. Also, I feel he has been trained differently. I believe Dan is doing a coursein
musical theatre whereeverything is very big, loud and exaggerated. Larger than life. He's trained for the stage. And it
seems his transition fromstage to screen wasn'tvery smooth. That's where me and him could'veclashed. I was asking
for something slightly more subtle. Although, I didn't know whatI was getting on the day, I had no idea if whatkind of
actor Dan is, so I didn't know to plan rehearsals plus I don't think I havea space to do it in. I think now (if I can a spaceto
do it in and the time available) I shall schedule in rehearsals with actors beforeI shoot, so that significantly cuts down
any major performancedirection on the day of shoot. I can attend to technical or logistical issues firstand it will overall
make for better film, more professionaland organised.

9. TechnicalQualities
In my research, looking at certain technical qualities I wanted evoke, I found I was successful in doing so.
Here you can see a comparison to my product and an existing product I looked at. Using a mirror in a
creative way. The issue I have with the way I used it is, I don't create a double unlike the shot from My
Dinner With Andre, yes, I don't want to completely copy it but, doing that would work in my favour help
communicate the characters personality visually. I never like to directly copy a shot from a film, only take
inspiration or twist it up. But in this case, I feel I should've leant more towards that shot from My Dinner
With Andre.
Another similar technical qualilty to my film which would be an internal character moment. This is the
final shot of my film. The internal moment in my film has been compared to the one from La La Land,
which I can see. Both black out out the bakcground, just leaving a spotlight on the character. I never
looked or even thought about La La Land when I thought of this shot although it could've been
subconsciene. Internal character moments are nice, a window into their psyche like no other. The main
difference between my internal moment and the one from La La Land is that, that film has musical
number in, there's camera movement, but apart from that they both serve similar purposes.

10. Aesthetic Qualities
Personaly, I'm really happy with how my work turned out, especially the visual aspects. The shots shown here are some of my favourites out of
the film. It's mainly down to the colours in the frame and how I colour graded the image, also some camera movement which can’t be shown
here. It was my first time properly colour grading a film. I'm very happy with the result. It has a nice look to it. I always strike for a distinct visuals,
I never want to make something look convertional, in a sense, I don't want it to be predictable. The way the film looks itself, as I said, is nice. It
isn't too hot or cold, certain colours look really nice such as the maroon, greens, greys, whites and blacks. It's quite cinematic. For the outside
shots, I graded it slightly differently to the inside ones. Generally, it's letting more light in, but keeping tones down to a narural level. The grading
gave more depth to ceratin shots, for one- the floor shot. That shot looekd quite flat, from the raw footage and since we hold on that shot for
quite some time, adding that colour grade to the image made it slightly more engaging to look at plus it enhanced the look of the shadow we
catch on the floor, again making it interesting to watch.
I think I relied too heavily on hand-held shots, there's quite a few in the film. I think the decsison to use a tri-pod or hand-held needs to be more
justifyed either by story, creating tension or atmosphere, developing character or any technical reasons.
I deveopled the visual style from the early stages of storyboarding and colour scheming. I knew, while I was writing the screenplay, how much I
could play with the visual style.
Two characters and a clash of belives and background.
I think iwas successful in keeping the visuals interesting
as mentioned before, the colour grading and I think I
mixed up the camera movement and framing well
in reflection to the characters.

11. Audience Appeal
From what I gathered from my questionnaire,specificallyabout the use of just one location,I
feel I took what they had to say on board and succesfully exploitedthe one location.This was
something I was planningto do anyway,but what my audience said gave me a solidified
accouanton what they want. My main strive was to make the experiemce for the audience
uncomfortable and caustrophobic,I could easily do this through the use of one location.Most
people said they got a lot out of the fact the film was set in just one location; I wanted my film
to be apart of that list.
I know my audience are alreadyfarmilar with my style of filmmaking, so I wanted to deliver a
'Lucas Higham Film' although I am aware that the subject matter is somewhat of a departure
of my previous work which is usuallya character study, with crime elements. They are
expecting one thing, and I want to deliver that, but also go somewhere new, experiemt.

12. Peer/Audience
Feedback

13. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
• What improvements could have been made to the product?

14. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
• What improvements could have been made to the product?

15. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
• What improvements could have been made to the product?

16. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer
feedback?
I fully understandwhy the acting was a main criticism of the film. It was by far the
most popularaspect of the film that people thought could've been better. And I
happen to agree with that, to an extent. No one named which specific actor gave a
weak performance so it's safe to say both actors are in that camp. Personally,I didn't
think Emil was bad. It may show that he is a first-time actor but then again it shows
that Dan is an 'experienced' actor is not so good ways. I feel Dan's performance was
the more noticableweak one. It's quite loud and dramaticand it feels very one note
throughout the whole film, which I didn't notice at the beginning but when I tried to
direct him in a more subtle manner, he didn't take it on board.
• What do you disagree with from your peer
feedback?
Some people called the film "too short" but for the time I opartaedin and what I was
doing, I feel I exectuted quite well. The whole point of the film was to be short, at least
less than 10 minuets. The film has also been citisized for abruptly ending giving a "big
moment message" which I complety disagree with as the entire film is about not a
"message" but a question rather. The whole film is buildingto it so I don't see how I
abruptly try to shoe-horn in a "message".

17. Peer Feedback Summary
The main criticism the film faced was the acting and I mentioned this in my time
management section, talkingabout how I could refine the performanes if I held rehersals.
I feel the performanes took people out of the film and brought it down it also may have
distracted people. I get the sense people didn’t find the peroformances natural.